Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

The Braves really are in bad shape right now. Both our pitching and offense are really struggling, although we finished .500 for the month. We are staying ahead of the Pirates, who are even worse than us right now, but we have a bunch of holes, and I don't know if we have the trade chips to fill those holes.

My strategy, if you can call it that, is to let Babe Ruth and Maurice Archdeacon develop a little bit, but I'm really in need of pitching. I'm hoping that the return of Joe Hesketh will help out, but at this point I'm really looking forward to the amateur draft.

Ed Willett of the St. Louis Browns won game number 200 of his career.

[NYY #23]

I really don't want to spend too much time talking about the actual games. I can't talk about trades either, because unless I want to trade Ruth (I don't), there really isn't a lot of interest in my team right now. So we continue in wait and see mode while the losses continue t o pile up.

One thing that I was encouraged about this month was the performance from Babe Ruth, who hit .292 with 1 home run and 10 RBI for the month, by far his best yet. I feel like Ruth, Archdeacon, Thon, and Fletcher can form a nice offensive core.

Joe Hesketh has been impressive since his return, despite his 2-6 record. I feel like Mason, Hesketh, and Hanson form a solid 2, 3, and 4 combo, I just need to add that ace.

[NYY #23]

My first winning month with the Braves has me feeling pretty good, and we now sit in 6th place. Sure we have a long way to go, but baby steps.

I'd nominate Dickie Thon for my player of the month in August, after he hit .318 with a .406 on -base percentage, while adding a home run and 14 RBI. Tommy Hanson finished the month with a 5-2 record.

A couple milestones this month, as Ed Willett of the Browns and Vic Willis of the Phillies each picked up win number 200, and Win Mercer of the Pirates picked up his 300th win of his career.

I also noticed that one of my former pitchers, Brian Bannister of the Cardinals is 24-6 with a 2.35 ERA. I wanted off the Cardinals so bad, but I do miss them now.

[NYY #23]

After one season in Boston I managed to improve the Braves by a whopping two games. We finished on a down note, going 8-17 in September, and 0-4 in October.

Making year 1 with the Braves even harder is seeing the Cardinals win their second straight World Series. It's nice to see the team I built have continued success, but it's hard to go from a winner to a loser.

The big news in Boston is that our owner sold the team to Alan Morehead. David Bush also will be retiring due to a career ending injury. While Bush has only gone 9-20 with a 3.44 ERA in his career, it is the second straight year where a Brave had his career cut short.

There was one addition to the Hall of Fame this year, former Phillie Bobby Mitchell, who went 183-120 with a 2.53 ERA. I had to look him up because I never heard of him, but Mitchell was a pitcher between 1877 and 1882 who went 20-23 with a 3.18 during a 4 year career.



Sandy McDougal, Dickie Thon, and Babe Ruth all won Gold Gloves for the Braves this year. Willie McCovey of the Tigers won the Rookie of the Year in the AL hitting .290 with 13 homers and 80 RBI. George Stone of the Giants won the NL Rookie of the Year after hitting .338 with 6 homers and 70 RBI. Both players also won the Outstanding Hitter Award as well.

We picked second in the amateur draft. The Pirates selected SP Al Orth first. Our scout recommended SP Preacher Roe. I preferred SP Jim Owens, but didn't like him too much. I really wanted a pitcher, but just couldn't justify taking one. I decided on catcher Carlos Santana as our first round pick. It's always nice drafting second with a weak draft…

We selected SP Bob Miller with our second pick. 1B Mickey Vernon was our third round pick. Catcher Austin Romine was our fourth round pick, and reliever Scott Davidson was our final pick.

We'll see if we can dangle Darren Fletcher to improve the team, but otherwise the offseason plan is to sign our draft picks, and hope our young guys develop.



Boston Braves - 61-93 (.396) 42 GB
1917 - Boston Braves 63-91 (.409) 40 GB (Season Score - 1)

[NYY #23]

With the addition of Carlos Santana, I shopped around Darrin Fletcher, and the White Sox offered starting pitcher Nig Cuppy. I now view the 28 year old Cuppy as my ace, as he went 23-16 with a 2.03 ERA last season for the White Sox. I have to admit that the White Sox pitching depth is pretty impressive. Cuppy was their number 4 starter last year, and in looking at the White Sox before the trade they had six starters who were better than what I had. Lucky for me they really needed a catcher.

For the month we ended up 6-7. It's really too early to tell anything about the season, but I do expect to lose more games than we win.

[NYY #23]

We finished the month 1 game above .500, to improve our record for the year to an even 21-21, which is good for fourth place. While it is meaningless, and probably won't last, it does feel good to be in front of the Cardinals.

We are third in the league in runs scored, and fourth in runs allowed. Ruth is still struggling, but I kind of expected him to at 19 years old. Carlos Santana hasn't been playing too well either, but I think our success will depend on them turning in to a solid 3-4 combo in the middle of our lineup.

[NYY #23]

I didn't have lofty expectations for the Braves this year, and neither did my owner, or anybody making predictions. Quite simply I wanted to improve and get close to even, as did my owner.

So after a surprising 17-9 month I'm surprised to find us just a 1/2 game out of first place. Everyone is bunched up at top it seems too good to be true. Tommy Hanson went 5-1 with a 1.02 ERA in June, and Mike Mason went 4-1 with a 1.28 ERA, while Joe Hesketh posted a 0.71 ERA for the month.

For the offense Maurice Archdeacon hit .356 for the month, and Joe Kelly hit .375.

My former team the Cardinals released Brian Bannister today, along with Vic Keen. The Cardinals didn't have room in the rotation for either after trading for Dutch Leonard. I made offers to both, not necessarily out of need, or talent, but a little out of loyalty. If either can help us then all the better, if they end up signing with us.

Also in June, two more of my former Cardinals made news. On June 13th Jack McDowell won career game number 250, and just two days later Dan Miceli won his 250th.

[NYY #23]

Both Brian Bannister and Vic Keen ended up signing on with the Braves, in addition to second baseman Joe Morgan. Yes, thee Joe Morgan, but before you start wondering what he was doing as a free agent there are a couple of things to know. Morgan is soon to turn 32, and has hit .234 for his career, and last year hit .209 and things have gone downhill from there.

It's a low risk move that may provide some depth at second base, and Vic Keen is a reach as well. However I do think Brian Bannister has something left to offer us. He is one of those pitchers that always seems to pitch better than his ratings would indicate. He has a slight edge in control over Hanson, but otherwise I'd give the slight edge to Hanson. But Bannister seems to have a way of constantly pitching better than expected. He is 4-1 with a 1.58 ERA since signing, and beat his former team the Cardinals twice. I love when a pitcher has something to prove.

We did have another winning month with a 17-12 record, and still sit a 1/2 game back, but now trail the Cardinals. The Cinderella season continues, for now.

[NYY #23]

I think that everyone knew this was coming - the inevitable crash back down to earth. We just weren't ready to compete with the big boys in the NL, and I think everyone knew it, but we had a nice little run for a while.

With a 10-15 month, and the Cards going 21-6, we are now in wait for next year mode. Honestly, at this point I think that we would be better off with a bad September and higher draft pick than finishing in second place. We'll see what happens though, and either way I think the Braves took a step forward this year. I don't know how close we are, but the Cardinals are getting older and older each year, and I still hope that things are going to click for Ruth soon.

I don't usually highlight Player of the Week Awards, but Joe Hesketh was honored twice one week, for both Batter and Pitcher. He went 2-0 without giving up a run, and went 5-6 with 3 RBI. While 5-6 was impressive, surely there was another player more deserving.

Ned Garver of the Tigers won the200th game of his career.

[NYY #23]

The Cardinals defeated the Washington Senators 4-2 to win their third straight championship. It's always rewarding helping to build a team that wins consecutive World Series, but a little less rewarding when you are trying to overtake them. The hazards of the World to First journey, trying to build a team good enough to win, but not too good.

Meanwhile the Braves finished a respectable third place in the NL, 14 games out. It would have been nice to get a little higher draft pick, but we selected 15th overall, missing out on Johnny Bench, Kevin Gross, and Dustin Ackley.

We selected RF Al Luplow with our first round pick, missing out on Larry Sheets by one pick. CF Endy Chavez, shortstop Wayne Ambler, reliever Matt Ruebel, and reliever Dutch Romberger rounded out what I consider a weak draft.

Jack McDowell won the NL Pitcher of the Year award after going 25-12 with a 2.03 ERA.

Two were elected to the Hall of Fame this year, my former rival from the Pirates, Josh Beckett, who went 156-122 during his career with a 2.33 ERA. He added 6 wins and 4 losses in the postseason, many of those wins seemed to go against me.



Tom Sturdivant was also elected to the Hall of Fame, after pitching 13 seasons in the majors, the last 11 coming with the Yankees. He was 169-135 during his career with a 2.47 ERA.



Boston Braves - 61-93 (.396) 42 GB
1917 - Boston Braves 63-91 (.409) 40 GB (Season Score - 1)
1918 - Boston Braves 82-72 (.532) 14 GB (Season Score -42)

[NYY #23]

We made one trade in the offseason, acquiring third baseman Roy Staiger from the Cubs. The 27 year old is a defensive wiz, but has struggled with the bat, but did post a career high .241 batting average last season. We traded starting pitcher Bob Miller along with centerfielder Jim Cook.

After being proposed at least one trade per week during the offseason for 37 year old infielder Andy Spognardi I finally relented and sent minor league outfielder Orlando Isales and Joe Morgan to the Phillies. While Spognardi won't help much, I didn't give up much either, and at least the trade proposals stopped coming.

Coming into the season our owner wanted us to play close to .500, while I wanted us to do significantly better. We had a nice 18-6 record during spring training, and according to predictions we are projected to finish in a three way tie with the Cardinals and Robins.

We started out the season with a 6-3 record, and it's too early to tell much. One thing I am encouraged by is the start by Babe Ruth, who hit .394 with 1 home run and 8 RBI. Sure it's a small sample size, but I'm still encouraged.

[NYY #23]

The Braves had a rough month going 11-17 to fall to 6th place. We now sit 6 games back, and are closer to last place than first place.

I'm concerned about my pitching after this month. I hope that it is just a bad month, but I do have an old rotation.

Richie Sexson is quietly putting together a quality season, hitting .340 with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

[NYY #23]

This month I released a pair of outfielders, Pete Browning and Nate McLouth. Both are on the downside of their careers, and I figured I would open up a roster spot for a younger guy.

While we did have a winning month, we still sit 1 game under .500 for the year, and 8 games back.

Two Browns reached milestones this month, with Jack Stivetts getting career win number 350, and Larry Gardner getting career hit number 2000. White Sox hurler Gary Peters picked up win number 250.

I'm planning on exploring the trade market this month, to see if I can improve the team long term.

[NYY #23]

I made a difficult trade at the deadline, sending starting pitcher Joe Hesketh along with 2B Jim Gray to the Cleveland Indians for starting pitcher Orval Overall and catcher/outfielder Josh Willingham.

While Joe Hesketh is my best pitcher, he is 34 years old. His record this year is 11-8 with a 1.95 ERA. Orval Overall is 23 years old and just 5-8 with a 3.08 ERA, but has good ratings. Jim Gray will be missed, but he seems to spend quite a bit of time on the DL. This trade is definitely for the future of the Braves, but with the Indians in win now mode, it should help them this season. I hope I don't end up regretting this one.

[NYY #23]

With a 15-10 month the Braves have moved up to a tied for third place.

With 11 home runs for the year, Ruth is now tied for 8th for most home runs in a season. He needs 4 more to tie Jim Rice for the most home runs in a year. He's also tied for 77th on the career home run list. If his power develops as expected we could see him move up that list quickly.

[NYY #23]

With the Braves moving up to second place, our season is virtually over. The Cardinals magic number is two, so we pretty much have to win the rest of our games and hope the Cardinals lose. It won't happen, so I thought I'd enjoy the late season surge by Babe Ruth, who now has 4 home runs in September, after hitting 5 in August.



I'm hoping this won't take long and Ruth will move up the list quickly, but since this seems like a unique opportunity, we'll watch Ruth move up the career home run list (hopefully). At a minimum it will give you a background of the home run hitters so far.

Career Home Run List
1. Cy Williams - 105
2. Dick Allen - 98
3. Home Run Baker - 91
4. Rogers Hornsby - 72
5. Wes Covington - 63
6. Chipper Jones - 63
7. Red Murray - 63
8. Mike Napoli - 63
9. Art Wilson - 62
10. Manny Jiminez - 60
11. Walt Moryn - 60
12. Fred McGriff - 59
13. Tony Clark - 58
14. Lance Parrish -58
15. Geronimo Berroa - 56
16. Barry Bonds - 56
17. George Foster - 53
18. Hank Leiber - 53
19. Lou Clinton - 49
20. Fred Beck - 48
21. Dan Driessen - 47
22. Danny Gardella - 47
23. Bobby Hofman - 45
24. John Russell - 45
25. Jack Dittmer - 44
26. Mark Funderburk - 44
27. Jim Rice - 44
28. Hal McRae - 42
29. Bobby Bonds - 41
30. Ray Fosse - 40
31. Mike Schmidt - 39
32. Willie Stargell - 39
33. Jerry Mumphrey - 38
34. Joe Cunningham - 37
35. Pedro Guerrero - 37
36. Joe Morgan - 37
37. John Romano - 36
38. Chuck Essegian - 35
39. Mel Hall - 35
40. John Young - 35
41. Wally Judnich - 34
42. Jerome Walton - 34
43. Dave Winfield - 34
44. George Gore - 33
45. Deron Johnson - 33
46. Pete Castiglione - 32
47. Mike Davis - 32
48. Ben Grieve - 32
49. Ray Boone - 31
50. Jacoby Ellsbury - 31
51. Gary Gaetti - 31
52. Leo Gomez - 31
53. Whitey Kurowski - 31
54. Jack Zalusky - 31
55. Nate Colbert - 30
56. Willie Davis - 30
57. Pable Sandloval - 30
58. Babe Ruth - 30

[NYY #23]

The Cardinals won their fourth World Series in a row, breaking the Pirates record of 3 straight. Meanwhile the Braves finished September with a 14-10 record, and the season in a second place tie with the Pirates with a 76-64 record.

Orval finally got in the rotation, and managed to go 5-2 with a 2.14 ERA. It makes me feel a little better about trading Hesketh, who was slotted as the Indians ace, but went 5-5 with a 3.82 ERA. His ERA+ before the trade was 154, and after it was 79.

We had a few players down in the minors retire - MR Ernie Johnson, 1B Todd Greene, RF Steve Gibralter, and C Larry Howard. In the majors SP Sandy McDougal hung up his cleats with a career record of 55-92 with a 3.42 ERA.

Jack Farrell won the Gold Glove at 2B, with Dickie Thon winning at shortstop, and Babe Ruth in right field.

John Murphy of the Indians won his 250th game of his career. Another year and another Outstanding Pitcher of the Year for the Cardinals Jack McDowell, who went 21-13 with a 2.31 ERA.

Eddie Collins won his 4th Outstanding Hitter Award, hitting .368 with 4 home runs, 64 RBI, and 87 runs scored. The 24 year old has certainly been impressive since coming in to the league.

There were three additions to the Hall of Fame this year - Jesse Tannehill, Bobby Shantz, and Woodie Fryman.







In the amateur draft we took the following players:
LF - Hideki Matsui
SP - Dick Errickson
MR - John Strohmayer
MR - Luis Rivera
RF - Larry Murray



With another home run Babe Ruth moves up the career home run list a few slots:

Career Home Run List
1. Cy Williams - 105
2. Dick Allen - 98
3. Home Run Baker - 91
4. Rogers Hornsby - 72
5. Wes Covington - 63
6. Chipper Jones - 63
7. Red Murray - 63
8. Mike Napoli - 63
9. Art Wilson - 62
10. Manny Jiminez - 60
11. Walt Moryn - 60
12. Fred McGriff - 59
13. Tony Clark - 58
14. Lance Parrish -58
15. Geronimo Berroa - 57
16. Barry Bonds - 57
17. George Foster - 53
18. Hank Leiber - 53
19. Lou Clinton - 50
20. Danny Gardella - 50
21. Fred Beck - 48
22. Dan Driessen - 47
23. Mark Funderburk - 45
24. Bobby Hofman - 45
25. John Russell - 45
26. Jack Dittmer - 44
27. Jim Rice - 44
28. Hal McRae - 42
29. Bobby Bonds - 41
30. Willie Stargell - 41
31. Ray Fosse - 40
32. Mike Schmidt - 39
33. Jerry Mumphrey - 38
34. Joe Cunningham - 37
35. Pedro Guerrero - 37
36. Joe Morgan - 37
37. John Romano - 36
38. Chuck Essegian - 35
39. Mel Hall - 35
40. John Young - 35
41. Wally Judnich - 34
42. Jerome Walton - 34
43. Dave Winfield - 34
44. George Gore - 33
45. Deron Johnson - 33
46. Pete Castiglione - 32
47. Mike Davis - 32
48. Ben Grieve - 32
49. Ray Boone - 31
50. Jacoby Ellsbury - 31
51. Gary Gaetti - 31
52. Leo Gomez - 31
53. Whitey Kurowski - 31
54. Jack Zalusky - 31
55. Babe Ruth - 31

Boston Braves - 61-93 (.396) 42 GB
1917 - Boston Braves 63-91 (.409) 40 GB (Season Score - 1)
1918 - Boston Braves 82-72 (.532) 14 GB (Season Score -46)
1919 - Boston Braves 76-64 (.543) 6 GB (Season Score - 49)

[NYY #23]

The Braves had a 9-7 start to year 4, with our offense and defense playing well, but our pitching struggling. Maurice Archdeacon has gotten off to a great start, hitting .403 with 2 home runs and 12 RBI, as has Babe Ruth, who finally seems to be playing like he is capable of.

Ruth is now hitting .355 with 6 home runs and 14 RBI, good for the Batter of the Month Award. Nig Cuppy won the Pitcher of the Month Award after going 4-0 with a 2.20 ERA. A good month for awards in Boston.

Ken Hubbs of the Chicago White Sox won career game number 200.

And finally, the Babe Ruth watch, or a look at the career home run leaders, as Ruth moves up to 37th place on the All-Time list:

Career Home Run List
1. Cy Williams - 105
2. Dick Allen - 98
3. Home Run Baker - 91
4. Rogers Hornsby - 72
5. Chipper Jones - 65
6. Wes Covington - 63
7. Red Murray - 63
8. Mike Napoli - 63
9. Manny Jiminez - 62
10. Art Wilson - 62
11. Fred McGriff - 60
12. Walt Moryn - 60
13. Lance Parrish -60
14. Barry Bonds - 59
15. Geronimo Berroa - 58
16. Tony Clark - 58
17. George Foster - 53
18. Hank Leiber - 53
19. Lou Clinton - 51
20. Danny Gardella - 50
21. Fred Beck - 48
22. Dan Driessen - 47
23. Mark Funderburk - 46
24. Bobby Hofman - 45
25. John Russell - 45
26. Jack Dittmer - 44
27. Jim Rice - 44
28. Willie Stargell - 44
29. Hal McRae - 42
30. Bobby Bonds - 41
31. Ray Fosse - 40
32. Mike Schmidt - 39
33. Jerry Mumphrey - 38
34. Joe Cunningham - 37
35. Pedro Guerrero - 37
36. Joe Morgan - 37
37. Babe Ruth - 37

[dynaboyj]

It'd be cool if, ten years after your team won the World Series, you could see how they'd done since then and if there were any players kept around. I wonder how the Browns have done, and if the Cardinals will keep winning the pennant in 1926.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by dynaboyj

It'd be cool if, ten years after your team won the World Series, you could see how they'd done since then and if there were any players kept around. I wonder how the Browns have done, and if the Cardinals will keep winning the pennant in 1926.

I can do that for the Browns now. Here is what they've done since:


Here is a look at the key players and how they fared since:
Bret Saberhagen - the 25 year old went from a 187 ERA+ to a 115 ERA+ the next year and saw his WAR drop from 8.8 to 7.6 to 2.5 when he missed 5 months with an elbow injury before being traded in the offseason to Pittsburgh where he suffered a shoulder injury and wasn't ever really the same pitcher.

Jack McDowell - another 25 year old who went from 9.1 WAR to 9.6 WAR in 1911, his best season. He definitely wasn't to blame for their struggles, and remained with St. Louis until I pried him away with the Cardinals.

Harvey Haddix - the 30 year old also wasn't to blame posting an 8.7 WAR in 1910, and then 9.5 and 8.2 the next two years. The Browns ended up releasing him after the 1914 season in a puzzling move considering he posted a 6.3 WAR in 1914 and was their best pitcher.

The Only Nolan - Nolan turned 35 years old after the season, and the Browns looked like they had him on a short leash, shipping him to Pittsburgh for LF Jimmy Sheckard. He was 5-5 with a 3.23 ERA after 13 starts, but after the trade in 1911 posted 4.3 WAR, then 6.3, 8.8, and 5.7 the next three years. Jimmy Sheckard following the trade in 1911 posted a -0.3 WAR, then 0.3, 3.4, and -0.1.

3B-Eddie Yost sure looked like the real deal in 1910 when he posted a 4.3 WAR at 23 years old, but that would be the best year of his career, and he really struggled in 1911.

1B-Wally Joyner at 22 years old also looked like a future star with a 3.4 WAR, but followed up with a 0.2 WAR and never got more than a cup of coffee with St. Louis.

SS-Scott Fletcher was another one of the young players who made key contributions at 24 when he posted a 5.0 WAR. He struggled in 1911 with a 2.2 WAR, but did rebound and had three good years where they traded him to the Red Sox for Ed Willett, who had a couple big years in St. Louis before retiring while Fletcher became accustomed to sitting in the bench with the Red Sox.

LF-Rick Peters -his WAR fell from 3.2 to 1.3 the next year and in another steal for St. Louis was traded to the Reds for Camilo Pascual.

C-Bill Freehan - another young player for the Browns who posted a 2.3 WAR in 1910, but fell off with a 0.6, 0.7, and -1.5 WAR the next three years before being released and retiring.

C-John Russell - the 25 year old Russell was one half of the catching platoon who posted a 2.4 WAR in 1910, but continued to improve the next three years with 3.6, 3.7, and 5.8 WAR.

2B-Nellie Fox - just 21 years old Fox put up a 2.1 WAR in 1910, but four the next four years in St. Louis sat on the bench before a trade to Philadelphia rejuvenated his career (4.5, 3.5, 1.3 WAR).

After looking at this I feel like I got lucky to win when I did with the Browns. Trading Nolan was definitely a bad move, but there were quite a few young guys who just had career years in 1910.

The Cardinals are definitely a different story though....